The Grand Scheme
by tokara2132
Summary: Time weaves itself in ways that is unseen by mortals. As the currents flow and twist, the strands pull together to bring about those separated together again. Naruto must sail these rough, unseen currents or perish. Part Four.


**Fan Fiction Name: **The Grand Scheme

**Chapter Name:** Revelations

**Info:** Time weaves itself in ways that is unseen by mortals. As the currents flow and twist, the strands pull together to bring about those separated together again. Naruto must sail these rough, unseen currents or perish. Part Four.

**Disclaimers: **Naruto is not mine. Although this sucks, this is not at all a surprise: I am not Kishimoto. I really wish I was though...I'd be freakishly rich and be in charge of the story development!

**Chapter One: Revelations**

As the dust settled around the massive crater, the only things immediately visible were two figures. The first was a young man, about the age of fifteen. His blond hair, sticking up in odd ways, like it had not met a brush in years. His clothes, an odd combination of orange and black, was covered in dust as his bright blue eyes looked towards the center of the destruction. His eyes, showing a large amount of fatigue, gazed towards the other edge, as the settling dust revealed another figure. This figure was clad in the remnants of black and red robes, while his body looked almost like a stuffed toy that was ripped and its stuffing strewn about.

The blond began slowly moving, slowly climbing to his feet as his eyes stayed on the broken figure in front of him. His attention was solely on the figure, so much so that he didn't even see or hear the other people in the clearing.

The blond teenager was Uzumaki Naruto, shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato. Master of the Kage Bunshin and fourth wielder of the Rasengan, the powerful ninjutsu created by the Yondaime Hokage. And with its power, combined with his natural element, had just brought a member of the Akatsuki to his knees...or rather, to his face.

"Good job...you damn freak," came a voice from the broken figure. The voice, even when mocking, gave away only hints of the pain being felt. But the blond could tell.

"It's not 'freak', you broken doll. Its Uzumaki Naruto," came the teenagers rebellious response. "and this is only a little bit of what you deserve, for what you and your partner did to Asuma-sensei."

"Heh...that stupid jounin Hidan killed. Well, aren't you in for a little surprise..." came the voice, just a little slower. The strings on the body of this man, Kakuzu, missing nin of Iwagakure no Sato began to slack and break, as the life force animating them began ebbing away.

"Oh, you mean that whole thing with your partner being unable to die. Shikamaru told me about that, and he says hes taking care of it, so don't be so smug," came another voice from the other side of the dust cloud, which had finally begun to settle. The broken Kakuzu began chuckling painfully, even as large parts of the string slacks away around him.

"Thats not what I mean...even though you can never kill Hidan, the very thing that kills his enemies ties them together. Your beloved...'sensei'...may not be dead...at least, not in the truest sense..."

Naruto's eyes went wide at the declaration. It couldn't be true, could it? Dead is dead...and Naruto saw Asuma's casket. He saw the sadness in Ino's and Chouji's eyes when he was there. He saw Konohamaru cry his eyes out at the thought of his uncles death. Death is death. Death is permanent...

Wasn't it?

No. He had seen Gaara, in the same cold situation, but Chiyo managed to bring him back, at the cost of her own. Would that be the type of sacrifice needed?

Or is this bastard just lying to him?

"What the hell are you trying to say, doll-freak! Can Asuma-sensei really...really be...," came the broken, feminine voice from behind Naruto. Holy crap, he forgot about everyone here! With the dust, the destruction, and the massive throbbing headache he had from his exhaustion and from the force he hit the ground, he had completely forgotten about the rest of them, he turned to the back of him, where the four familiar faces around him looked at the broken man with looks ranging from serious to confused to tear-stricken.

The last belonged to Yamanaka Ino, whose pupilless eyes were watering.

Kakuzu chuckled hoarsely, knowing that his time was short. Hell, it should be a reward, to tell the poor bastard about their beloved sensei. After all, he had been defeated and was well on his way to being killed. He certainly hadn't expected this from a jounin, let alone an itty-bitty genin. But he was a jinchuuruki, and the jinchuuruki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, of all things. So why not throw him a little bone. They had no way of getting the bastard back, so why not give them some stupid false hope.

"Too bad you can never find out how to do it..." came Kakuzu's hoarse voice again, and with a final shudder of his artificial body Kakuzu fell apart before their eyes.

After a few seconds, there is little to no noise being made. The first piece of sound, at all, comes from the very source of the destruction.

"YAHOO!!!! I did it! I DID IT!" Naruto yelled out loud, a massive smile plastered on his face.

It was like to almost as though to diffuse the situation of its implications. It seemed to do it's job (if it had any), as the serious faces of the men (and woman) in the small clearing all seemed to fall at the lack of seriousness shown by Naruto, as he happily danced around the clearing, obviously elated by the success of the Fuuton: Rasen Shuriken. There was a single pair of eyes, one black while the other oddly red, whose thoughts were not interrupted by the blond teenager dancing around (whether or not like a fool was up to the viewer)

_So, theres a chance to bring Asuma back. But how, and specifically who, would be interested in...wait, thats a stupid question. I need to report this to Tsunade-sama and get her opinion on this_, came the thoughts of one Hatake Kakashi, even as Shikamaru, Sai, and Sakura came out of the forest around him and see Narutos oddly amusing attempts to explain his actions to an annoyed Shikamaru, an irate Sakura, and a confused Sai.

_Heh heh, some things never change._

_- - - - -_

As a special treat to his temporary teammates and long time friends (also as a little bit of an apology for not catching up much sooner) Naruto happily offered to buy Team Ten and his team lunch. However, with their lives, now, only Chouji and Shikamaru could join him at a wonderful little lunch at Narutos absolute favorite place to eat. A small, hole-in-the-wall place known as Ichirakus Ramen. As the three sat down in their idle chatter, none of them really noticed the small, unassuming shadow on the other side of the table.

Well, that is until she tried to talk to them...or rather attempted to talk to them.

"Ano...Can I ...take your orders," came the quiet, nervous sounding voice on the other side of table. Naruto looked up from a rather interesting conversation on the new types of ramen Naruto had eaten while away (Chouji was extremly curious at the description of oddly-flavored ramen from the west). When he looked up, he saw an oddly familiar looking girl behind the table. In fact, it looked almost like Ayame-niichan...until you realized that the girl was not the age of Ayame-niichan, was not as tall as Ayame-niichan and was looking down, almost as if to avoid the looks of the three people sitting down on the bench in front of them.

Naruto looked on curiously at the girl, even as she continued to look down.

"Oh, I'd like to have...oh...are you new?" came Choujis voice as he himself realized that the three of them were being addressed. The quiet girl shirked back a little bit, before turning tail and fleeing towards the back, leaving the three at the table looking very confused. Finally, Teuchi himself came out of the back area, his face looking confused and amused at the same time.

"Oi, old man Ichiraku! Who's the new girl?" Naruto said, looking at the the old man with a lot of confusion. The older man simply shook his head and sighed.

"Thats my youngest, Tomoe. She was so excited to start working with us here, but she had some stupid merchant yell her out for spilling his ramen. Since then, shes been really nervous in helping the customers," Ichiraku said, his face showing a lot of concern for the girl.

"People really can be jerks sometimes," Naruto muttered under his breath.

"Naruto. Chouji. I need to ask you a favor. I know she's acting a bit scared, but I know you two come by often. Try to be nice to her, like some of these damn idiots. Now, I'll take your ord...actually, I'll only take your order, since I know what Naruto and Chouji want," Teuchi said, a n expectant look on his face. Shikamaru sighed and gave an order for some tankatsu ramen.

It was only then that it hit Naruto.

"Hey, with what Kakuzu said before he died...about Asuma..." Naruto started. Shikamaru gave the two an odd look, and when Naruto and Chouji told Shikamaru what had transpired in the fight between Naruto and Kakuzu, Shikamarus face went into a constant state of disbelief. Finally, about five minutes of finishing the explanation, Shikamaru procured a cigarette from his pack, took a small drag, then turned to his companions.

"WHY THE HELL DIDN'T TELL ME ABOUT THIS?"

- - - - -

As Kakashi made his report to Tsunade, great sannin, Legendary Sucker, and Godaime Hokage of Konohagakure, Kakashi was sure that something had made everything in the room to fall silent. The Godaime took a pose not unlike the Sandaime in thought, but with Shizune there the news was certainly showing for what it was: shocking.

"So, there is a chance to bring back Sarutobi Asuma, using this jutsu you say Chiyo used on Gaara to bring him back. But, you said that the sacrifice needed to fuel the jutsu would rightly kill anyone using it, correct?" Tsunade asked. Kakashi nodded in response, and suddenly the eternally young looking Hokage seemed far older.

"Is there anyone willing to make that kind of sacrifice in the village? He may have been the son of the Sandaime, but he isn't well known beyond that," Tsunade asked Kakashi. Although it was a valid question, Tsunade had a good idea where Kakashi was going to go with the question.

"Well, thats why I brought Kurenai along with me. She's in the main hall, but when hearing this she's probably two seconds from..." Kakashi started, but he was interrupted by a loud gasp in the other room, followed by banging. Almost as if on cue, a tear-stricken Yuuhi Kurenai came through the doors to the Hokages office, her red eyes stained to the color of blood by the amount of tears spilling from them.

"So...it...it's true. C-can we..." Kurenai attempted to say , although her words are cut by the sobs. Kakashi sighs, before turning back to Tsunade.

"You know what...you're a sadistic bastard, Kakashi. Go ahead," came the exasperated voice of the Godaime Hokage.

- - - - -

"You know, you really don't have to do this," Kakashi said as he made his way out of the Hokages office, addressing the red eyed jounin beside him. She nodded wordlessly, before she put her hands on his stomach.

"Yes I do...for our child's sake," was Kurenais response.

- - - - -

**A/N:** Well, its a little late, but now this is the first chapter of "The Grand Scheme", the fourth in a series of stories in an epic that I have yet to totally name. Now, when I started this story, i had come up with some ideas, such as Kurenai being pregnant with Asumas child. But, oddly enough, after just downloading Chapter 342, thats EXACLY WHAT HAPPENED!!!!! I suddenly feel unoriginal. But, as of this moment, anything beyond this point is now Alternate Universe.

But, like I said, this is Story Four of the "Epic"

Story One: Truth (Brainstorm/Working Title)

Story Two: The Gathering Storm (In Progress)

Story Three: Tales of a Would-Be Jounin (Complete)

Story Four: The Grand Scheme (This story!)

Story Five: Battle Scars of the World (Brainstorm/Working Title)

Story Six: Requiem for the Rokudaime (Complete)

Story Seven: Legends of the Past (In Progress)


End file.
